You know, when Seth Godin said, “When people care, they tell others,” he was getting at the absolute core of modern marketing. It’s not about shouting your message anymore. It’s about creating something so remarkable, so genuinely valuable, that your customers can’t help but become your evangelists. The alternative? Well, no amount of marketing can force that kind of passion.
Share Image Quote:Table of Contents
Meaning
At its heart, this quote means that authentic, word-of-mouth advocacy is the ultimate marketing goal, and it can’t be faked or bought. It’s a direct result of creating a product or service that people genuinely, deeply care about.
Explanation
Look, I’ve seen this play out a hundred times. This idea flips traditional marketing on its head. We used to think our job was to convince people to care. Seth’s point is that our real job is to build something worth caring about. Period.
When you do that? The marketing happens almost automatically. People talk. They share. They post. They become your sales force for free. But if you try to market a mediocre product? You’re just polishing a turd, as they say. You can spend millions on ads, but if the core experience is forgettable, no one will remember it long enough to tell a friend. That’s the brutal, beautiful truth of it.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Business (233) |
| Topics | authenticity (101), engagement (17) |
| Literary Style | straightforward (17) |
| Emotion / Mood | pragmatic (36) |
| Overall Quote Score | 75 (124) |
Origin & Factcheck
This gem comes straight from Seth Godin’s 2005 book, All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. It’s a US publication, and it’s often misremembered or paraphrased, but the core sentiment is uniquely his. Sometimes you’ll see similar ideas attributed to others, but this specific phrasing is pure Godin.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Seth Godin (100) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World (57) |
| Origin Timeperiod | 21st Century (1892) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Seth Godin writes and teaches about marketing, leadership, and creative work. After earning an MBA from Stanford, he founded Yoyodyne, sold it to Yahoo!, and later launched ventures like Squidoo and the altMBA. He has authored bestsellers such as Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, Tribes, Linchpin, and This Is Marketing. He posts daily at seths.blog and speaks globally about making work that matters. If you’re starting with the Seth Godin book list, expect insights on trust, storytelling, and shipping creative projects that change culture.
| Official Website | Facebook | X
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | When people care, they tell others. When they don’t, no marketing can make them |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 2005; ISBN/Unique Identifier: 9781591841009; Last edition: Portfolio Penguin 2012; Number of pages: 240. |
| Where is it? | Chapter 23: Caring, page 209, 2012 edition |